'Hamas in talks to buy missiles from North Korea'

“Hamas is looking to replenish its stocks of missiles because of the large numbers it has fired at Israel," according to "The Telegraph."

North Korea supreme leader Kim Jong-un.
(photo credit:REUTERS)

Hamas and North Korea are in negotiations for a deal that would provide the terrorist organization with a replenishment of missiles and communications equipment that would be used to continue its offensive, the British Daily Telegraph reported late Saturday.

The deal in the works is supposedly worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the newspaper said.

“Hamas is looking for ways to replenish its stocks of missiles because of the large numbers it has fired at Israel in recent weeks,” a Western security source told the Telegraph. “North Korea is an obvious place to seek supplies because Pyongyang already has close ties with a number of terrorist Islamist groups in the Middle East.”

According to the report, a Lebanese company with ties to both Pyongyang and Hamas is being used as an intermediary.

The report also indicates that North Korea is suspected by Israel to have provided Hamas with know-how in building the extensive network of tunnels underneath the Gaza Strip. The North Koreans have gained a great deal of experience and expertise in the construction of tunnels, having built them in the tense demilitarized zone which separates the communist state from South Korea.

Hamas has exhausted a considerable amount of its arsenal of rockets in the three-week offensive.